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Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

danfitdegree.hashnode.dev

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Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#251

Post by Gentil »

brutusborn wrote: post #235
Gentil wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cos users want mobile apps. When Roam research and Obsidian launched, one of the biggest thing people were ranting about was that their lack of mobile apps. Simple. Google also is dominating the browser market. Not to mention, I see Manifest v3 as something in this direction. They just don't have the exact amount of control they do in Play store is all. So my question is, how long are you gonna run?

Sorry, what does the last sentence mean, gonna run?

Thanks for chiming in Ayewo. Appreciate it.

Apart from the UX, I also meant that how long should we run from the fight? Both the App store and play store definitely needs to be regulated more. But the user of the comment to which I replied seems to mean to find refuge in web and ditch mobile stores. But how long is the web safe for?

The browser market is crazy monopolistic with chromium based browsers. The only legal reason why google would like to pay for Mozilla is because they don't want to be crucified for being anti-competitive. But edge being overwhelmingly successful browser means they don't have to worry about that anymore. They can just stop paying Mozilla cos there is another browser in the market. So they could say, "we at google are not being anti-competitive".

With the pathetic leadership at Mozilla, I don't see how long we will see Firefox compete. I mean reckless payment for the CEO while ditching teams and being hated by their own community. So what will you do then?

Running away won't help an indie dev or a small company. :shrug:

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#252

Post by aussieshibe »

willnonya wrote: post #207
aussieshibe wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell if you're joking. If you're seriously asking, how about that unions have consistently and successfully fought for better treatment and pay for workers all around the world. Many of the standards we expect today only exist because of union action over the last century or so. Developers are no different from any other worker in the sense that they have more power as a group than individually. That generall…

So, your rationale for joining a union is misinformation and propaganda might somehow work this time? Organizing wouldn't be a bad idea, a labor union would be.

What, in your view, is the difference between organised workers and a trade union?

Trade unions are groups of workers organised around the common cause of improving worker pay and rights.

You said the organised workers part isn't a bad idea, so I have to assume you're objecting to the only other defining feature of trade unions: collectively striving for better pay and conditions?

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#253

Post by Nemo_bis »

insaider wrote: post #137

You seem to have missed a detail in their replies "We confirm that your app has options to report and block abusive users but your app does not contain functionality to report objectionable content." You complain that they haven't answered the specifics of your emails yet you've actually failed to address theirs. Unpopular opinion but it seems like their response was reasonable tbf.

Yes, I think this is an issue of language/context. Perhaps the developer doesn't appreciate the full scale of the meaning of the phrase "objectionable content". Google for some reason thinks this app may be a legal liability, and they won't tell exactly why because it would make their position worse if they admitted they knew something.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#254

Post by Nemo_bis »

praxulus wrote: post #10

It'd be great if google offered an option for a video call with a reviewer for $500/hr as an escalation option for businesses who are getting nowhere with the regular process. Ideally you'd get a refund if you turned out to be correct, but I'd be happy even without that.

IIRC there is already an option to pay Google 7500 $ or something for a new review? I can't remember exactly how it is dressed up to get around antitrust concerns, maybe as a security audit.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#255

Post by Nemo_bis »

JimDabell wrote: post #226
binkHN wrote: post #7

As a little side project I wrote an Android app and went through similar turmoil—guess I can’t feel too bad for myself when the cofounder and lead developer of “~100” apps runs into similar issues. In this vein, I too wrote a similar story and it’s at https://medium.com/@mtc.dev/my-first-android-app-story-331c9... .

We have ~500 applications in the Play Store and we have experienced the same thing from Google multiple times. Literally the exact same thing – we already have robust reporting mechanisms and Google are seemingly blind to them for a proportion of our applications.

This makes me think that they have some internal rating mechanism (perhaps based on reviews or previous reports or who knows what) which flags some apps for extra "review".

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#256

Post by richardfey »

I think the problem is that they need a separate report functionality for content on the user profiles. That's different from reporting the profile itself.

Also, he was clearly asking about policy related problems in the live chat, that's why that person couldn't answer.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#257

Post by deviance »

trhr wrote: post #124

Stay off Google. Stay off Apple. Stay off Facebook. Stay off Amazon. Stay off Microsoft. Stay off Reddit. Stay off Twitter. Stay off Adobe. Stay off Salesforce. Stay off Oracle. Stay off Sony. Stay off eBay. Stay off GoDaddy. Stay off PayPal. Stay off Etsy. Stay off Steam. Stay off Comcast. Stay off RCA. Own your platform from the bottom to the top. If your business model requires you to rely on one of these companie…

So very true, so few people realize it

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#258

Post by Nemo_bis »

dekhn wrote: post #14

Is there any large group representing App developers that could manage the large-scale negotiation and legal wrangling required to force Apple and Google to be more helpful when rejecting legitimate applications? When I worked in Google (Ads, then later in Recommendations for Play and youtube) people often said this was intention to avoid teaching spammers how to get around the rules. But it's clear there are enough…

The Digital Services Act is supposed to provide some legal recourse, at least in the European Union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Services_Act https://verfassungsblog.de/dsa-fails/

However, ask the politicians at the European Commission, and they will boast that it is about this:

> By summer 2023, the first very concrete effects of the #DSA will be visible for all users. This includes: Accessible "button" to easily flag illegal content

https://nitter.it/ThierryBreton/status/1592856203935510528#m

Which just happens to be what the reviewer was complaining about (ways to report "objectionable content").

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#259

Post by solardev »

ergocoder wrote: post #165
jldugger wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im confident theres a few googlers watching things and happy to play the role of Harry Tuttle.

I'm an ex googler, and I am furious. If I was still at Google, I would have posted this shit on memegen making fun of the Play team all day. They should be ashamed for handling customers like this.

> They should be ashamed for handling customers like this.

That's been the case with almost every Google service I've ever used =/ Even paid ones, like GCloud, Adwords, Workspace... even when you can get in touch with a human (which is hard enough on its own), they are usually not helpful at all.

Customer service really isn't your ex-company's forte.

I think the one exception to that has been Google Fi, the tiny wireless MVNO. For some reason their support has always been amazing, quick and helpful and to the point. No runarounds, they just do what it takes to solve your issues. I was astounded how much better they were not just compared to the rest of Google, but also compared to major carriers like Verizon and AT&T.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#260

Post by solardev »

danuker wrote: post #138
mfDjB wrote: post #75

What I've learned from Google is that you are always talking to a bot, it just happens to be that some of those bots are human. Even though they are walking and talking simians they are executing a conversation script and have no agency and ability to control an outcome spare the most banal common issues.

Maybe they don't even have the option of replying, just picking one of a few canned responses.

They probably have to solve a reCAPTCHA just to override the autocomplete.

> Press TAB to reply to this customer with our suggested response. If you wish to choose another canned response, please first find the house numbers hiding inside these fire hydrants in the hills.

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